For Dems only.

[Rex Kickass]

Jesse Ventura is making noises about filing for the MN Senate race between Norm Coleman and (probably) Al Franken. What a wild ride that would be.

 

Latest poll in that race has Coleman beating both of the two Dems still competing for the endorsement.

 

Franken has had a tough few weeks, and is only 7 points or so down in most polls. With Coleman riding right around 50, and not above it, MN is still a very competitive field.

[BigSqwert]

Some more info from McCain, the foreign policy "expert":

 

For a foreign policy "expert," McCain clearly has a pattern of getting the basic facts wrong. McCain insisted that ultimate political authority in Iran rests with Ahmadinejad -- even mocking Klein when he challenged him on it. In fact, according to the CIA's World Factbook, ultimate political authority in Iran rests with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, not the president.

 

Here's the exchange:

 

K

LEIN: I've done

s

ome re

s

earch, and um -

 

MCCAIN: I have too.

 

K

LEIN: Al

s

o chec

k

ed, al

s

o

chec

k

ed with the Obama campaign and he never

, he'

s

never

s

ai --

mentioned Ahmadinejad directly by name. He did

s

ay he would negotiate with the leader

s

, but a

s

you

k

now - Ayatollah,

 

MCCAIN: (Laughing) Ahmadinejad i

s

, wa

s

the leader.

 

K

LEIN: But if -

 

MCCAIN: Maybe I'm mi

s

ta

k

en.

 

K

LEIN: Maybe you are, becau

s

e -

 

MCCAIN: Maybe. I don't thin

k

s

o though.

 

K

LEIN: The

S

upreme, you

k

now, according to mo

s

t diplomatic expert

s

,

the

S

upreme Leader Ali

K

hamenei i

s

the guy who'

s

in charge of Iranian foreign policy and al

s

o in charge of the nuclear program, but you never mention him. Do you, you

k

now, um, why do you alway

s

k

eep tal

k

ing about Ahmadinejad

s

ince he doe

s

n't have power in that, in that realm?

 

MCCAIN: Oh I thin-Again, I re

s

pectfully di

s

agree. When he'

s

the per

s

on that come

s

to the United Nation

s

and declare

s

hi

s

country'

s

policy i

s

the extermination of the

s

tate of I

s

rael, quote, in hi

s

word

s

, wipe them off of the map, then I

k

now that he i

s

s

pea

k

ing for the Iranian government and articulating their policy and he wa

s

elected and i

s

running for reelection a

s

the leader of that country. Ye

s

s

ir, go ahead.

 

NEW REPORTER: One more que

s

t-

 

MCCAIN: I mean, the fact i

s

he'

s

the ac

k

nowledged leader of that country and you may di

s

agree, but that'

s

a uh, that'

s

your right to do

s

o, but I thin

k

if you a

s

k

ed any average American who the leader of Iran i

s

, I thin

k

they'd

k

now. Go ahead. Or anyone who'

s

well-ver

s

ed in the i

s

s

ue.

 

Ilan Goldenberg of the National Security Network notes:

 

Let'

s

be clear: Iran ha

s

a very complex

s

y

s

tem of government with varying in

s

titution

s

, but at the top of it

s

it

s

S

upreme Leader Ayatollah Ali

K

hamenei, who e

s

s

entially ha

s

only accountable to the Council of Guardian

s

made up of cleric

s

, many of whom are appointed by

K

hamenei.

S

o,

Ahmadinejad i

s

not the leader. And a

s

the Council on Foreign Relation

s

explain

s

, e

s

pecially in the area of foreign policy, Ahmadinejad ha

s

very little influence.

 

 

On top of that a

s

K

lein point

s

out, the Pre

s

ident'

s

job i

s

to educate the public on que

s

tion

s

of policy.

S

o if the "average American" thin

k

s

that Ahmadinejad i

s

the ultimate leader of Iran, it'

s

up to the Pre

s

ident to di

s

s

uade them of thi

s

notion - not reinforce it. Bac

k

in 2002 more then half of American

s

thought

S

addam wa

s

re

s

pon

s

ible for 9/11 and Pre

s

ident Bu

s

h did nothing to di

s

prove thi

s

a

s

s

umption (In fact, while never directly claiming that

S

addam wa

s

re

s

pon

s

ible for 9/11 the Admini

s

tration did everything it could to reinforce the notion). That doe

s

n't mean our policy

s

hould be ba

s

ed on tho

s

e fal

s

e a

s

s

umption

s

.

[BigSqwert]

When a federal judge ordered Rep. Jim McDermott to pay House Minority Leader John A. Boehner and his attorneys more than $1 million in damages and legal fees for leaking an illegally taped phone call to the media, Boehner said he pursued the case because “no one — including members of Congress — is above the law.”

 

Why, then, is the Ohio Republican trying to squash similar lawsuits against telecommunications companies who cooperated with the government in warrantless electronic surveillance, ask the attorneys behind the class action suits.

 

“Mr. Boehner is trying to kick millions of Americans out of court in a wiretapping case while collecting more than $1 million in his own wiretapping case. It’s the height of hypocrisy and seems to indicate that members of Congress are entitled to their day in court but the average American is not,” said Kevin Bankston, a senior staff attorney at the consumer rights nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

 

Full Article

[HuskyCaucasian]

Some more info from McCain, the foreign policy "expert":

Everyone always thinks that Ahmadinejad is the one we should be afraid of. He's not quite as low as a "figure head", but he's in the middle.

[HuskyCaucasian]

McCain Confronted With New Iran Gaffe, Gets Facts Wrong Again

On top of that as Klein points out, the President's job is to educate the public on questions of policy. So if the "average American" thinks that Ahmadinejad is the ultimate leader of Iran, it's up to the President to dissuade them of this notion - not reinforce it. Back in 2002 more then half of Americans thought Saddam was responsible for 9/11 and President Bush did nothing to disprove this assumption (In fact, while never directly claiming that Saddam was responsible for 9/11 the Administration did everything it could to reinforce the notion). That doesn't mean our policy should be based on those false assumptions.

Edited May 20, 2008 by Athomeboy_2000

[Balta1701]

A good starting point. Somehow, I don't think that if they're losing now, they're going to turn it around in CA by the November election.

 

Field Poll (PDF). 5/17-26. Registered voters. MoE 3.2%

Do you approve or disapprove of California allowing homosexuals to marry members of their own sex and have regular marriage laws apply to them? (Same question asked every survey throughout the years)

 

Approve Disapprove

5/2008 51 42

2006 44 50

2004 44 50

2003 42 50

1997 38 56

1985 30 62

1977 28 59

[HuskyCaucasian]

This is crazy (starts at 5:30)!!! Anyone know if this is legit?

 

Greg Palast of the BBC has uncovered over 500 emails sent by Karl Rove from GOP and RNC servers that were later deleted to inhibit a justice department investigation. What Palast has uncovered is a preliminary plan to 'cage' black voters out of the 2008 election.

 

Edited May 28, 2008 by Athomeboy_2000

[HuskyCaucasian]

McCain in trouble with is recollection of facts again...

He said: "I can look you in the eye and tell you it's succeeding. We have drawn down to pre-surge levels. Basra, Mosul and now Sadr City are quiet."

 

Not so much, countered the Obama campaign, which pointed out that troop levels are at 155,000 right now, well above the 130,000 pre-surge mark.

 

Then McCain said: well... well..... I... umm..... well.... "To get into a debate about a verb tense rather than the real fundamental national security issues at stake is really a distraction," Pay no attention to me getting it wrong. That's not the issue.

 

The Washington Post: Everybody misspeaks once in a while. But the attempt by the McCain media machine to spin the mistake as a simple matter of "verb tenses" is an insult to our intelligence.

 

Obama responds to the "nitpicking" charge: Just like George Bush, when he was presented with the truth, he just dug in and refused to admit his mistake. His campaign said it amounts to “nitpicking.” Well I don’t think tens of thousands of American troops amounts to nitpicking. Tell that to the young men and women who are serving bravely and brilliantly under our flag. Tell that to the families who have seen their loved ones fight tour after tour after tour of duty in a war that should’ve never been authorized and never been waged. (head banging not part of his speech. lol)

Edited May 30, 2008 by Athomeboy_2000

[bmags]

can you verify that headbanging was not part of his speech?

[HuskyCaucasian]

can you verify that headbanging was not part of his speech?

I'd give him props if it was

[HuskyCaucasian]

Newest McCain official: President has "near dictatorial powers"

 

Bill Kristol today proudly announces that one of his Weekly Standard staff members, Michael Goldfarb, was just named the Deputy Communications Director of the McCain campaign. Last April, this newest McCain official participated in a conference call with former Senator George Mitchell, during which Mitchell advocated a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. Afterwards, this is what Goldfarb wrote about what he thinks are the powers the President possesses in our country:

 

Mitchell'

s

le

s

s

than per

s

ua

s

ive an

s

wer [to whether withdrawal timetable

s

"

s

omehow infringe on the pre

s

ident'

s

power

s

a

s

commander in chief?"]: "Congre

s

s

i

s

a coequal branch of government...the framer

s

did not want to have one branch in charge of the government."

 

True enough, but they

s

ought an energetic executive with

near dictatorial power in pur

s

uing foreign policy and war

.

S

o no, the Con

s

titution doe

s

not put Congre

s

s

on an equal footing with the executive in matter

s

of national

s

ecurity.

[mr_genius]

Did you guys hear that Bill Clinton was having an affair with Gina Gershon? I must admit, I am impressed.

[FlaSoxxJim]

This is crazy (starts at 5:30)!!! Anyone know if this is legit?

 

Sure, Palast is legit, and a good investigative journalist. The problem is, the things he digs up are never covered by the MSM. I wonder why. No, not really.

 

Palast was one of the first people to figure out what was going on with ChoicePoint and the rigging of the 2000 election, and as you saw in the video he was the one who did the demographic math to figure out that Kerry only lost in 2004 because of the massively disproportional spoilage of minority (=Democratic) votes. He first broke the story about the Rove emails and the caging scheme for 2008 more than a year ago, and you can see how much traction it has got.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Did you guys hear that Bill Clinton was having an affair with Gina Gershon? I must admit, I am impressed.

• Gina Gershon = Ok, but far better looking than Monica
• I though Gina Gershon was a lesbian, guess not.

Edited June 3, 2008 by Athomeboy_2000

[BigSqwert]

McCain giving an uninspiring speech in front of 100 people in Louisiana.

 

*yawn*

[HuskyCaucasian]

McCain giving an uninspiring speech in front of 100 people in Louisiana.

 

*yawn*

 

McCain officially begins the general election with a banner that says "A Leader We Can Believe In"

 

Is that REALLY the best he can come up with??

[HuskyCaucasian]

Every time I hear him speak, I hear one of two things...

1. He sounds like he is reading an speech to a 5 year old... dull and mono-tone with odd inflections (Al Gore 2000??)
2. "Forced" Anger. It sound like he isnt mad, but he wants to sound angry to sound forceful.
3. Oh, and he has this odd forced smile.

Edited June 4, 2008 by Athomeboy_2000

[BigSqwert]

In the television era I think it would be wise to get your teeth whitened.

[BigSqwert]

I can't help but to laugh at all the Obama haters that kept saying how he just talks fluff and has no substance to his speeches. After 15 minutes of Obama bashing and forced one-liners I'm wondering where McCain's substance is. Double standard if I ever saw one.

[kapkomet]

I can't help but to laugh at all the Obama haters that kept saying how he just talks fluff and has no substance to his speeches. After 15 minutes of Obama bashing and forced one-liners I'm wondering where McCain's substance is. Double standard if I ever saw one.

I know this is a Dems only thread, but I really dislike McCain - and you're absolutely spot on - McCain has very little substance to offer, IMO.

 

[HuskyCaucasian]

I can't help but to laugh at all the Obama haters that kept saying how he just talks fluff and has no substance to his speeches. After 15 minutes of Obama bashing and forced one-liners I'm wondering where McCain's substance is. Double standard if I ever saw one.

Oh he did that a while back. Remember that speech he gave (I think it was the 2012 speech). He opened saying Obama has no real plans. Then goes on tot talk about what the world would look like in 2012 after his first term... WITH NO DETAILS ON HOW TO GET THERE.

[BigSqwert]

I know I may sound like a sissy but I just got shivers up my spine when Olbermann officially declared Obama the nominee a moment ago.

[HuskyCaucasian]

I know I may sound like a sissy but I just got shivers up my spine when Olbermann officially declared Obama the nominee a moment ago.

I am at work, did they interrupt McCain to announce it?

Edited June 4, 2008 by Athomeboy_2000

[BigSqwert]

I am at work, did they interrupt McCain to announce it?

Yes and they didn't even bother to go back to show the rest of it.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Yes and they didn't even bother to go back to show the rest of it.

HAHAHA! AWESOME!